Intercultural marriage. Multicultural Motherhood. Our life in India.

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Namaste

My name is Crystal.
I met my husband, DN, online, years ago. We married in June of 2015, and our daughter, Baby N, was born in August of 2016. My husband finally met our daughter, when we reunited in March.
This is the story of our journey - from successful LDR to blossoming family.

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Cotton’s blog reflects the honest trials and tribulations of a Western woman who spent a great deal of time working and living in India with her small daughter. This blog touches everyone, but especially speaks to those of us on a similar journey. Cotton has faced immigration injustice, putting half a world’s distance between her and her fiancé. In turn, during the hardest of times, her intercultural relationship fell apart. This strong woman held herself together, maintaining a strong work ethic back in the United Kingdom. These days, she still battles immigration injustice, as a promising new love story unfolds before her eyes.

Cotton’s story is remarkable, and her storytelling methods are refreshing. I encourage you to follow along. Why not check out her response to the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award nomination?

Anyway, here’s how it works:

I answer Cotton’s questions, and afterwards, I nominate my own favorite bloggers and ask them a few of my own questions. Here’s what Cotton asked…

Where is the most special, favourite place to you in the world and why? I’m talking sentimental, gooey happy stuff here!

My favorite place in the world… To be honest, my happy place is less of a place and more of a state of mind. I’ve found that I am the happiest in India, but I wouldn’t consider India to be my favorite place. I fell in love with Nepal, but I didn’t spend enough time there to consider it my favorite place. My favorite place in the world is not a location at all. My favorite place in the world, is beside my husband. Simply being in his presence makes me happy, strong, and calm.

What are your desert island discs? (5 records that you would take to your desert island if you could only ever listen to these five tracks and nothing else ever again?)

What is the funniest story you can think of that involves any part of your body?

No funny stories, just something ironic: I broke my leg when I was 12, at a skating rink, while simply standing and talking to my friend.

How did you meet your partner? If you’ve not met him yet tell us about your perfect man?

Our story has been told many, many times. In short, we met on Facebook around 5ish (closer to 6 now) years ago. We became good friends. Our friendship went through rather regular ups and downs, but we finally met in 2014. Unforeseen circumstances lifted me out of my darkness, and I had the chance to come to India. We fell in love instantly, but we were very cautious, and waited several months to enter an official relationship. Telling the parents was another thing…

If you could bump off three of the world’s politicians which three and why? (They don’t have to die a painful death as such, just be permanently removed from any kind of seat of power.) If you don’t like politics you can choose three celebs.

I don’t care much for politics or celebrities. I don’t have much interest in either.

Why do you write? (Big deep question that one!)

Writing comes naturally to me. Whether I am good at it, or not, I don’t really care. It feels good to express myself in writing. I write to tell my story, in hopes that it can help someone, and I write because it feels good to me… And it’s cheaper than therapy.

I present to you, DN’s Famous Poha.
If you want to try out both, here’s a Daal Fry Recipe. We don’t use curry leaves, or half of these spices in our Daal Fry, but to each their own.

Give us a link to the funniest internet video you have seen this year..

Well I don’t spend a lot of time watching funny videos, but I did happen upon this video…

If you could have three wishes what would they be?

1) The health, longevity, happiness, and personal success of me and everyone I love and care about.2) World peace.3) That everyone respects and abides human rights.

These are my three wishes, currently. Personal desires and goals, I can manage without the help of a genie. 🙂

So there are Cotton’s questions, answered.

I nominate…

Lisa of Buddhaful BrittLisa is a fantastic writer with a rich story to tell. Her life is defined by more than just her intercultural relationship, and her blog does well to reflect every aspect of her life. I enjoy reading everything Lisa has to say. She really puts out the most positive, lively vibe. Her sense of humor is the cherry on top, really.

Cynthia of Home Cyn Home
Cynthia lives a colorful life of blended Swiss and Indian cultures. She’s crafty, she’s creative, and she shares her mouth-watering recipes – what’s not to love? This colorful lifestyle blog keeps readers engaged – especially if they are as committed to her fun DIY projects as I am. (Psst… This one is still my favorite. I can’t get over it.)

Agate of Latvian MantraAgate, like myself, is living in India, and married to an Indian. Agate hails from Latvia, a small European country. Like myself, Agate had little to no idea of what to truly expect, when living in India. She plunged right into the unknown. Her blog reflects her experiences as a Latvian expat in India – the good, the bad, and the quirky.

Alexandra of Madh MamaAlexandra is Canada’s most famous firangi bahu (Hindi for ‘foreign daughter in law’) and writes about her intercultural marriage and culturally blended family. Alexandra is not a fan of sugar coating, so you can expect that her blog expresses the raw, and often, ugly truth about Indian culture in modern society. If you read her blog, you will notice how culture, and overcoming cultural differences, shapes Alexandra into a better human being. Madh Mama is a zesty, intercultural lifestyle blog, fit for any reader.

Mani of A New Life WanderingMani is a lively soul. She’s a world traveller – passionate for adventure, and lucky enough to share it all with her soulmate. Half the beauty of Mani’s ongoing story, is how it all began.

Grace of Texan in Tokyo
I happened upon Grace’s blog through Lauren’s blog (Lauren of English Wife Indian Life) and I was impressed. Grace writes about her life as an American wife living just outside of Tokyo with her Japanese husband. While she reflects that her life is quite boring, the opposite is true! Even her daily routine brings a smile to my face, as I find myself able to relate with her on every level. She teaches her readers about Japanese culture in the most intriguing ways, and even draws comics that illustrate her life in Japan. I recommend this blog to everyone, but this is a must-read for lovers of culture – especially Japanese culture.

Jess of Diary of a MomDiary of a Mom follows Jess, her husband, and her two daughters through their life’s greatest, and most rewarding challenges. This blog touches my heart and soul at every triumph and every bad day this family faces. Jess teaches her readers that challenges can be overcome, and that a bad moment doesn’t ruin a whole day. Her daughters and the stories of their every day lives, are what bring this blog to life. You will get addicted to this blog!

Radhika of Balanced SoulRadhika is a Canadian woman living as a traditional Indian housewife and mother, in her husband’s joint family home, here in India. Radhika blogs about her experience in Indian culture, as a mother of a culturally blended family, and chronicles her struggles of finding balance and sense of self in the mix.

Renuka of Voyager for LifeI’m new to her blog, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to share it. Renuka writes about her travels, after leaving her cubicle job. Her blog does more showing than telling, with incredible travel photos that highlight the meaningful experiences she has on each adventure. Did I mention she travels solo? Did I mention she’s Indian? She’s an inspiration, and a paragon.

Jocelyn of Speaking of ChinaJocelyn’s facebook page came as one of those “page suggestions” you get, after liking a page. After reading a bit more about her page, I started following. I never realized how much I would come to love this blog. As you may know, I am a huge fan of culture blogs, most especially written by people on a similar journey as myself. Jocelyn blogs about culture, love, and family in China. Jocelyn also blogs about being the foreign wife of a Chinese man, as well as other intercultural relationship topics. This blog is a must-read for lovers of culture (especially Chinese culture) and those of us in intercultural relationships.

My Questions to my Nominees…

What inspired you to blog?

What is the most rewarding experience about sharing your life with readers?

What is the most important piece of advice you could offer someone?

Are you happy?

Ideally, what would your life be like 5 years from now?

What was/is your most difficult challenge in life, and how did/do you overcome it?

Would you say that your experiences have made you a better person?

What brings you the most happiness?

Who inspires you the most?

The journey tends to change all of us, in good and bad ways. What about yourself would you like to improve?

Okay nominees! Answer my questions in a post on your blog, tag your favorite bloggers and ask your own questions. Take this award, and pass it on.

The concept of this award is to unite us bloggers and connect with our readers.

Hi Crystal! I’m a new reader. I found your link through a Facebook group. I’m currently traveling in Nepal and am loving it as well. I’m curious as to what part of Nepal you were in and what it was that you loved about the place? Looking forward to reading more!

Hey Jessica, so glad you are following along! I was in Kathmandu, in the Thamel district. It was beautiful. An enchanting mix between modern and traditional. It was a tourist hot-spot, but at the same time, there was a lot of traditional Nepali culture to explore, as well. Here is a collection of our pictures so far: https://www.pinterest.com/myhindiheart/thamel-kathmandu-nepal/

Namaste Crystal! I’m a new reader. I found your blog through one of the facebook groups. We’ve been traveling in Nepal recently and I have fallen in love to. I’m curious as to what part of Nepal you were in and what it was that you fell in love with. Looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts! =)